Open Science, Open Data – Challenges in Data Sharing across Scientific Domains

Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The term “Open Science” refers to the dissemination of all the material associated with scientific discovery, in a broad spectrum, with the goal of accelerating the advancement of science and increasing interdisciplinary collaboration. It has been declared to be one of the priorities of the G7 group, and is part of the European Commission’s core strategies for financing projects. The digital material to be disseminated refers to a variety of content types – e.g., software, video, sound recordings, spreadsheets, workflows, specifications. Sharing such data has become one of the most important challenges faced by scientists. Indeed, data sharing requires long term planning of data management, covering the entire lifecycle of all data items – from their collection, through cleaning, storage and preservation. Not only are there technical barriers (e.g., due to data heterogeneity or interoperability across repositories and cyber-infrastructures), but distinct norms, regulations and standards often hamper effective sharing. The talk will give an overview of some of the computing challenges faced, some international efforts being conducted, and present a broad ongoing initiative in Brazil, involving 48 campi and over 20,000 researchers across the state of Sao Paulo.